Threads, Meta’s New Social Media App, Could Soon Get Instagram’s Branded Content Tools: Report

Meta Platforms’s Instagram is planning to bring its branded content tools to Threads, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Such tools will help marketers collaborate with influencers on paid partnerships on the social media platform while advertising is unavailable.

Meta, the parent of Facebook, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The news comes on the heels of Threads, widely considered a rival to Elon Musk’s Twitter, hitting 100 million users in a record five days.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the company would only think about monetizing Threads once there was a clear path to a billion users.

Instagram allows users to port their accounts, credentials and followers to Threads, giving the text-based social media platform access to the photo-sharing platform’s more-than-2 billion-strong user base.

Several companies have already started making accounts on Threads to post content organically, despite a lack of advertising on the platform.

However, the lack of hashtags and keyword search functions on Threads could limit the platform’s appeal to advertisers.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s claim that Meta Platforms stole trade secrets to build its new microblogging site may be the first volley in a legal battle between the social media giants, but experts say Twitter would have to clear a high hurdle if it sues. 

In a letter sent on Wednesday, Twitter alleged that Meta used its trade secrets to develop its new social media platform, Threads, and demanded that it stop using the information. Twitter said that Meta had hired dozens of former Twitter employees, many of whom “improperly retained” devices and documents from the company, and said Meta “deliberately” assigned them to work on Threads.

It was unclear whether any lawsuit would be filed.

A spokesperson for Twitter did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a Threads post on Thursday that no one on the site’s engineering team is a former Twitter employee. 

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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